No end in sight for Pearson despite Rio disappointment

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Sally Pearson has not ruled out extending her career until the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo after a hamstring injury ended her hopes of defending her high hurdles title in Rio de Janeiro in August.

The former world champion, who will be 30 in September, felt she had not yet reached her peak as an athlete and scoffed at suggestions the tendon tear she suffered on Monday might bring an end to her career.

"I'm an athlete, that's what I do for a living, I'm not giving up because of an injury," she told reporters in Queensland.

"I know what I'm capable of as an athlete, I don't think I've reached my peak yet, I think I'm capable of a lot more."

Her first priority, she said, was to give her body a rest and thereafter focus on possibly making next year's world championships in London and then the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The prospect of defending her Commonwealth 100 meters hurdles title in her home city of the Gold Coast was particularly attractive.

"You don't get many chances to run in a major championships 10 minutes up the road from your house. I think it will be pretty special," she said.

Pearson said the injury had come out of the blue and was not the result of over-training as she battled back from the horrific injury she suffered in Rome last year, when she shattered her wrist after a fall at the Golden Gala meeting.

"Everybody pushes their bodies to the limits for the Olympics and it's just a question of whether you tip over the edge," she said.
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